Within the silent hall, everyone turned to the middle-aged man as their mouths slowly gaped open in astonishment.

  “Four…… million?!” After a long while, Cyril finally recovered from his shock, and his voice became as sharp as that of a monkey that had just had its tail trodden on.

  He had seen the 1,000,000 copper coins of profit earned by the forge build up on a day to day basis, and he learned for the first time just how arduous this process was, yet it was now being announced that Blue Suede had earned 4,000,000 copper coins during the past month? Wasn’t it supposed to be only 1,000,000?

  “Surely there must be something wrong! How could that little brat have earned so much?” Denise had already risen to her feet with incredulity etched on her face.

  “H-how could this be!” Herty’s and Hernie’s expression had also changed drastically. Their father’s forge had only earned 1,000,000 copper coins for the month if deposits were to be discounted, yet Gloria’s clothing shop had earned four times that amount!

  “That’s awesome, Big Sister!” Mickey also sprang up from his seat as he appraised Gloria with admiration in his eyes.

  Lance was also filled with shock as he stared at Gloria. It was common knowledge that Cyril was useless, but he had been in Chaos City’s business circles for over 20 years, and he had far more relations than Gloria did. Even with an unprofitable business like Kerry’s Forge, he was able to use those relations to secure enough orders to result in profits of 500,000 copper coins for the month, but how had Gloria achieved this?

  The Blue Suede Textiles Shop had been incurring losses for several consecutive years; how had she reversed that trend in just a single month and earned a staggering 3,170,000 copper coins of profit?

  This was simply incredible!

  Jeffree’s expression hadn’t changed much upon hearing Cyril’s revenue figures. This was the upper limit on the revenue that the forge could earn in a month when operating at maximal capacity, so Cyril hadn’t achieved anything out of the ordinary.

  However, he had opened the Blue Suede Textiles Shop in person many years ago, and the shop had even been named by him in person. The textiles shop had given rise to the empire that was the current Moreton Family, paving the way for it to become the colossus that it was now.

  However, even during the textiles shop’s heyday, it had never earned 3,000,000 copper coins of revenue in one month, let alone over 4,000,000.

  Not only was the total revenue astonishingly high, the rate of profit was also over 75%. In just a single month, Gloria had effectively created a miracle with relations at her disposal.

  This announcement was finally enough to crack Jeffree’s facade a little, and he couldn’t help but turn to Gloria with a hint of shock and curiosity in his eyes.

  Back when Scheer had taken over her first business, it had earned 10,000,000 copper coins of revenue in the first month, 8,000,000 of which was pure profit, and that was the first time her name was heard throughout the business world.

  Even though Gloria had only earned 4,000,000 copper coins of revenue in her first month running her first business, it had to be taken into account that she had been assigned a textiles shop that had been on the verge of closing down.

  How had she done this?

  Jeffree’s heart was filled with curiosity. Even if she’d made fabric into clothes, he had never heard of any tailor in Chaos City earning 4,000,000 copper coins in a month.

  The derision in Aurora’s eyes grew even more pronounced, and it was as if there were a pair of fireballs burning within her pupils.

  Cyril finally managed to collect himself before turning to the man standing beside Gloria with a menacing look on his face. “You must be lying! That little brat’s textiles shop clearly only made earnings od 1,000,000 copper coins; how could it possibly have been 4,000,000 instead? You’re fabricating counterfeit figures for her!”


  Denise’s expression also darkened as she coldly threatened, “Do you know the price that you’ll have to pay for lying under circumstances like these?”


  “Some people really will do anything to win. She probably had to sell her body to convince that man to fabricate those figures for her, but the lie is far too blatant to be taken seriously!” Herty and Hernie’s panicked expressions were also instantly replaced by their former derisive sneers.

  The man standing beside Gloria adopted a serious expression. In a manner that was neither humble nor arrogant, he replied, “Please respect our verification team. All eight members of our team have vouched for this final result, and the accounts book has listed in detail every instance of income generated and cost incurred by the Blue Suede clothing shop. On top of that, we verified all of their remaining stock and coin registers to find that all of the results were concurrent with their accounts books. There were no counterfeit figures fabricated whatsoever; if either of you would like to express doubts about the results we obtained, then please send another verification team to Blue Suede. If the results they obtain differ significantly from ours, then we will take full responsibility for the discrepancies.”


  Instead of backing down upon hearing this, Cyril only became even more enraged as he urged, “Then how about you tell me how she was able to earn 4,000,000 copper coins when her shop has been closed for over 20 days of the past month? Up to last night, she had only earned 1,000,000 copper coins; where did these additional 3,000,000 copper coins come from?”


  The man flipped open the accounts book in his hand in a calm manner, and recited, “According to our records, the Blue Suede clothing shop sold a total of 525 dresses in the past two days, each of which cost 2,000 copper coins, thereby resulting in 1,050,000 copper coins of revenue. However, this morning, the shop’s employees delivered all 30 of the custom-made dresses to their respective customers, and full payments were issued at the point of delivery. Each of those custom-made dresses cost 100,000 copper coins, thereby accounting for the remaining 3,000,000 copper coins, amounting to a total of 4,050,000 copper coins.”


  Gasp……

  Everyone inside the hall drew a collective sharp breath. Only now did everyone understand how the 4,000,000 copper coins had been earned. However, the fact that each of those custom-made dresses had been sold for 100,000 copper coins still came as quite a shock to them.

  Herty and Hernie thought back to the dress that Gloria had worn during the banquet. If the same dress were being sold for 100,000 copper coins each, they’d probably trip over their own feet in their hurry to thrust their money into the seller’s hands. With that in mind, a hint of panic appeared in their eyes.

  “Each dress cost 100,000 copper coins? They’re just dresses made from fabrics, not gold and diamonds! Do you think I’m an idiot?” Cyril was already beginning to panic as well, but he was still trying to intimidate the verification team leader by putting on a menacing display.

  “Be quiet!” Jeffree cast a cold glance at Cyril as he said in a displeased voice, “I picked the members for the two verification teams myself, and all of them have served me for decades. I would doubt you long before I cast any doubt toward them.”


  Jeffree raised his voice slightly as he continued, “The final verdict has been reached: Gloria is the winner of this contest!”


  An elated smile finally appeared on Gloria’s face upon hearing this, and she turned to Lance and her family with a pair of bright and exuberant eyes.

  Lance also returned Gloria’s smile with one of his own, while Mickey leaped straight up into the air with joy.

  In contrast, Cyril’s face turned deathly pale as he stumbled over to Jeffree while trembling. “Father, that’s impossible…… Gloria must’ve cheated; she must’ve fabricated those figures. How can anyone earn 3,000,000 copper coins in one morning?”


  “Are you saying I’m an idiot?” Jeffree asked in a calm voice as he looked into Cyril’s eyes.

  Cyril immediately shuddered as he backed down and fell silent, not daring to press the issue any further.

  Jeffree turned to Gloria, and announced, “From this day forth, all of the textiles-related businesses under the Moreton Family will be assigned to Gloria. I’ll also be nominating you as a board member of the Chamber of Commerce.”


  “Thank you, Grandpa,” Gloria said in a respectful manner, but the excitement in her eyes was quite apparent.

  “In one year, I’ll be choosing an heir to the Moreton Family between the two of you. I hope you won’t disappoint me,” Jeffree said in a solemn voice as he looked at Gloria and Cyril before exiting the hall.