Ma Bence, aka Long Yifan, instantly regretted asking for a low profit percentage.
’Stupid! I am so stupid! If only I had kept my mouth shut! Now, Gu Jin will start to doubt me! What should I do?’
Gu Jin was too smart. She always noticed things other people didn’t.
He quickly cleared his throat.
"I just think Unique has great potential," he said smoothly. "If I ask for too much, it might slow down its growth. And I don’t like wasting opportunities."
Gu Jin stared at him, her sharp eyes studying his every move.
Long Yifan stayed still, hoping she wouldn’t push further.
After a long moment, she leaned back in her chair. "Fine," she said. "1% it is."
Long Yifan almost sighed in relief.
"But..." Gu Jin continued.
"You remind me of someone," she said, tapping her fingers against the table.
Long Yifan forced a chuckle. "Many people say that. I must have a common way of speaking."
Gu Jin’s lips curled slightly, but she didn’t press the topic.
Instead, she reached for the bottle on the table. "Since we’re working together now, I’ll let you test this," she said. "See for yourself what Unique can do."
Long Yifan took the bottle and nodded. "I will."
He stood up, his long black cloak flowing behind him. "I’ll have my people handle security for Unique. If anyone causes trouble, they’ll regret it."
Gu Jin also stood up. "Good. Then our deal is settled."
She turned toward the door, but just before leaving, she glanced back at him. "By the way..."
Long Yifan’s heart almost stopped.
"Have we met before?" she asked.
Long Yifan smiled behind his mask. "Maybe in another life."
Gu Jin raised an eyebrow, but then she just chuckled and walked out.
Once outside, Gu Jin called the elders of the alchemy tower and told them the good news.
Old Wu’s slightly worried voice sounded,
"Isn’t this Ma Bence...too generous?"
Gu Jin smirked as she leaned against a nearby wall, listening to Old Wu’s cautious tone.
"I thought so too," she admitted.
"But does it really matter? We’re getting protection, and all he wants is 1% profit. Even if he has another motive, I don’t care as long as Unique benefits."
On the other end, Old Wu hummed thoughtfully.
"Still... be careful," he warned. "A person like Ma Bence doesn’t do things for free. He must see something valuable in Unique."
Gu Jin’s eyes flickered.
Of course, she knew that. No one this powerful helped others out of kindness. But she had no problem with that—as long as she could control the situation.
"Understood," she said. "I’ll handle it."
After hanging up, she put her phone away and looked up at the night sky.
By morning, the entire alchemy world was talking about Unique’s new backer.
"Did you hear? Ma Bence is protecting Unique!"
"What?! The shadow king himself? Why would he bother with an alchemy brand?"
"Who knows? But this means Unique is untouchable now!"
Many businesses that had looked down on Unique before were now scrambling to send partnership requests.
Inside the grand hall of the Wei family estate, the atmosphere was heavy. The elders sat in their seats, their faces dark with frustration.
At the center, Wei Shiming, the head of the Wei family, slammed his palm against the table. BANG!
"Ridiculous!" he roared. "How did this happen?! How did Unique get Ma Bence’s support?!"
The elders exchanged uneasy glances.
"Patriarch, we underestimated the owner of Unique Brand," one elder said cautiously. "We thought he was just a talented alchemist, but now... he has real power behind him."
Another elder frowned.
"Ma Bence rarely shows interest in businesses, yet he agreed to protect Unique for only 1% profit. This doesn’t make sense!"
Wei Shiming clenched his fists.
"There must be something special about Unique that even Ma Bence finds valuable."
Wei Lin stepped forward.
"Father, what should we do now? If Ma Bence is backing Unique, we can’t suppress it anymore."
Wei Shiming’s eyes flashed coldly.
"Ma Bence’s support makes things difficult," he admitted. "But that doesn’t mean Unique is untouchable."
Then he paused and asked,
"What about that woman named Gu. Did she rank first in the second round too?"
Wei Lin shrank his neck and said in a small voice,
He expected Wei Shiming to scold him, but the expected scolding didn’t come; instead, Wei Shiming said,
"With her talent, she might be able to reach Black Rank before 30 and Heavenly Rank within 100 years...and it would then take her another 1000 years to reach Master Rank...and 4000 years to reach Grandmaster Rank...a rank achieved by only 2 people in the world..."
(Apprentice--> Yellow --> Earth--> Black --> Heavenly--> Master --> Grandmaster)
"Father you think she would be able to reach Black Rank before the age of 30? Don’t you think you are overstimating her? Even the professors hired by the Beijing University are at Peak Black Rank..." Wei Lin muttered.
(Sub category of ranks: Initial --> Intermediate --> Advanced --> Peak)
The only grandmaster alchemist took 11,000 years to reach grandmaster level; how could Gu Jin only take 5130 yeaor only to reach the grandmaster rank?
Wei Shiming glanced at his son, his sharp eyes filled with wisdom.
"You don’t understand," he said slowly. "Gu Jin is different."
"But Father, even if she’s talented, no one has ever reached Grandmaster Rank in just a few thousand years! The only grandmaster alchemist took 11,000 years!"
Wei Shiming tapped his fingers against the table.
"That’s because talent alone isn’t enough. Resources, luck, and powerful backers—these things matter just as much. Not to mention...a talent like Gu Jin hasn’t appeared even on the international level.
We just need to get her on our side before the Unique’s owner snatches her away. As long as we sponsor her for the next 5000 years, we will get a grandmaster for ourselves!"
The room fell silent. The elders exchanged worried looks.
One elder coughed awkwardly.
"Uh... Patriarch, sponsoring her for 5000 years? Isn’t that... a bit too long?"
Wei Shiming gave him a cold glance. "A grandmaster alchemist is worth waiting for."
Another elder hesitated.
"But what if she refuses? Gu Jin doesn’t seem like someone who would be easily controlled."
Wei Shiming smirked. "Then we make sure she has no choice."
Wei Lin’s eyes lit up. "You mean... we pressure her?"
"Yes. If kindness doesn’t work, then we apply force. We don’t need to hurt her—just push her into a situation where she needs our help.
Like, what if her family’s intellectual gathering guild suddenly loses all its funding?"
Wei Lin’s eyes widened. "You mean... cut off their resources?"
"Exactly. If her guild is struggling, she’ll have no choice but to accept our help. And once she does, she’ll owe us."
One elder stroked his beard.
"That’s a good plan. However, we can only claim that favor once. After that, if we repeated the tricks, she would know it was us who was behind all of these."
Wei Shiming thought for a while, and an idea appeared in his mind. He turned toward Wei Lin and said,
"Gu Jin and you are of same age, right?"
Wei Lin, still unaware of the idea brewing in his father’s mind, nodded with a confused expression,
Wei Shiming’s eyes gleamed with a sharp glint.
"Then, what if we arrange a marriage proposal?"
Wei Lin’s jaw almost dropped. "W-What? You want me to marry Gu Jin?!"
The elders exchanged surprised looks, but some of them nodded in agreement.
"Think about it. If she becomes part of our family, we won’t need to force her into anything. She will naturally work for us."
"But... Father, she already has a fiance...Long Yifan from the Long family. The Long family is way better than our family. It is the top family in the entire nation.
Then why would Gu Jin agree to marry me? Not to mention she is not of my type."
Wei Shiming chuckled,
"First, the Long Family doesn’t value Long Yifan. Second, the Gu family’s background isn’t great compared to ours. Third, as long as Gu Jin loves you, we won’t need to offend anyone else. Gu Jin will do the work for us."
"Wait... You want Gu Jin to love me?"
Wei Shiming nodded. "Yes."
Wei Lin almost laughed.
"Father, I want to play around more. And I have some mistress whom I have affection for. If I marry Gu Jin out of love, I will have to give up on all of them. She is not worth it."
Wei Shiming chuckled,
"You don’t understand; if a woman loves you, she will be ready to forgive. All you have to do is to apologize after cheating."
Wei Lin scratched his head.
"But what if she doesn’t forgive me?"