"The moon is really round today, don't you think, Gin?"
Su Ming held a wine glass and turned his head to talk to Gin, who was leaning by the window, holding a bottle of wine.
"Yeah, Christmas is almost here." She took a few gulps, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
"There's still a lot to do. I wonder if we can finish it all before the New Year." Su Ming clinked glasses with her and said quietly.
In his previous life, Su Ming was not one to celebrate Christmas; he didn't follow that faith nor planned to hook up, so why celebrate Christmas?
But now, since the company needed to do business, the shopping frenzy before Christmas couldn't be missed.
Parents needed to prepare gifts for kids, family members exchanged gifts with each other, be it food, toys, or practical items, gift-giving was the most expensive activity.
Some small companies only do business this one time of the year, one deal to last a year, so it's easy to imagine how hefty the profit is.
As a leading department store in the United States, how could Wilson Enterprises miss such an opportunity? Money doesn't bring happiness; only emotions like family, friendship, and love bring happiness.
So during the holidays, Su Ming was happy to accept the useless money and give people an opportunity to express their feelings.
Don't ask why, just know it's a big sale, it's the kind of sale where Wilson Enterprises claims they're losing miserably.
If someone were to come to Wilson Enterprises during Christmas, they would see the boss and other executives with sorrowful smiles on their faces.
"I checked the factories, and the inventory is very sufficient, enough to handle the changes," Gin said more seriously, touching the blush on her cheek. "But our national... chain superstores? Distribution and stockpile are still lacking."
Su Ming stood up and stood beside her, both quietly looking at the sea: "Indeed, the logistics capabilities are still lacking. It seems we need to invest again to expand the scale and redevelop 'Midnight Express'."
"Is the chain model really that popular in the future?"
Gin has been busy with these matters recently. Not only chain supermarkets, the boss also wants to run chain fast food, chain Chinese food, chain pharmacies...
"Unified distribution, unified training, unified standards, assembly-lining all the steps, has always been the way to simplify problems, and it can reduce costs. Also, as basic intelligence stations, chain stores are not noticeable."
Su Ming handed her a cigarette, and she took it as before and lit it. It's estimated that in all the parallel universes, she might be the only Valkyrie who smokes.
"Sure enough, Earth is better. Can you believe Asgard still doesn't have schools?"
Schools are places to line-produce talent. Such upbringing doesn't necessarily produce excellence, but it is sufficient. In a place like Asgard, they should actually build military academies.
Unfortunately, Asgard still follows the Middle Ages method, relying entirely on parental teaching, from hunting to killing, all taught by family. Maintaining a million strong, well-trained army seems to rely entirely on talent in Su Ming's view.
Listening to Gin, Su Ming sighed.
"Speaking of schools, I really should go to Kama Taiji once. I can't just not show my face after taking over, Monac has urged me several times."
Gin smiled; she looked more elegant smoking than drinking, her slender fingers resting on her smooth chin as she gently inhaled the cigarette.
"Boss, your attempt to make Magic Prince take the blame was seen through."
"Yeah, they saw through it..." Su Ming nodded, answering carelessly: "Oh, right, notify Hamill tomorrow to do a magic talent test on Magnetic King's daughter."
"Little Anya? Isn't she supposed to be a mutant?"
"Mutants can also have magical talents. In the future, she will have a half-sister who will have a good magical talent. Now I need to determine if this talent comes from Magnetic King or their different mothers."
Su Ming was referring to the Scarlet Witch. Besides the Chaos Magic granted by Sithorn, she mastered many other Black and White Magic spells, which is a talent.
"Okay, I got it. What do you plan to do with her next? Your plan is to hide her for a while." Gin traced the edge of her wine glass with the fingers holding the cigarette.
"If she has talent, send her to Kama Taiji. If not, send her to Zhongsi Academy. Anyway, Magnetic King thinks she's dead now."
"Alright, I need to go settle my sisters."
..............
Plans always change, and early the next morning, Su Ming unexpectedly received a call from Howard, for the first time in ages.
"What's up? Can't play mahjong today."
No need to stand on ceremony with Howard. He went straight to the point, and Howard didn't bother with small talk, directly stating his intention.
"I want to invite you to a funeral."
"Wait, not a wedding? Is this some special term for a love's grave?" Su Ming rubbed his ear and joked.
"The one to be buried with me hasn't shown up yet." Howard said irritably, the phone's receiver blowing loudly: "Remember the Dr. Xavier I told you about?"
Su Ming's heart skipped a beat. He had a rough idea of what it was about but still feigned ignorance: "Yeah, the one who invented the foam fire extinguisher and bought a large estate with the sky-high patent fee you gave him. By the way, I've recently registered a patent for cat litter fire extinguishing. Are you interested in buying it?"
The sound of a bellows came from the other end of the line: "You know that's not it... Anyway, are you coming or not?"
"You're acting strange, really strange today, Howard. You're hiding something from me." Su Ming said as he sat at the edge of the bed, looking at the carpet fibers.
"Dr. Xavier had an accident during an experiment last night and was unfortunately decomposed by an energy beam. I think, as consultants for SSR, you should attend the funeral..."
Howard said hesitantly, but the lie seemed too obvious.
"You scientists can handle that. I'm just a businessman, seems unnecessary for me. It's my first time being invited to a stranger's funeral, never heard such a custom."
"No, you must come. It's serious." Howard began to insist.
"Goodbye."
"No, don't hang up. I'll buy the cat litter fire extinguishing technology." Howard immediately stopped him from hanging up, even raising his voice.
To get Howard to bleed money? This was even weirder...
"You're acting strange, really strange." Su Ming knocked the receiver, just as Gin entered with clean clothes.
"Not convenient to say over the phone, come to Stark Company to pick me up, we'll talk in person." Howard hung up before Su Ming could say anything, as if afraid Su Ming wouldn't sell him the fire extinguishing patent.
But Su Ming didn't have such a patent; he was just joking with Howard just now.
He put down the phone and walked toward the bathroom: "Not going to Kama Taiji today. Howard needs me. Call the governor and ask someone to help me register a cat litter fire extinguishing patent."
Gin watched the bathroom door close as the sound of water started, and sighed helplessly.