A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu once again stayed at Tianfu Palace, following his usual custom.

Little Yin was delighted to return to familiar grounds, as she also got to see her friends again. More accurately, her little group of followers.

Normally, a shareholders’ meeting should first be convened to obtain the consent of the majority before reorganizing the shareholders. However, since the Wang family had fallen and most shareholders were either dead or imprisoned, their vote was no longer counted, so they simply skipped this procedure.

There were still a few old shareholders, such as Du Yuhua. But after barely surviving this crisis, she was fortunate enough to preserve herself. Thus, she dared not ask for more and naturally kept quiet.

This time, Qi Xuansu had come mainly to divide up the remaining 30% of the shares. He sought out Du Yuhua for a long talk and told her that the Daoist Order would still allow her to repurchase shares. Du Yuhua originally wanted nothing more to do with the Nanyang United Trading Company, but after Qi Xuansu assured her that the company was no longer an issue, she agreed and symbolically held a 1% share.

Du Yuhua’s son, Du Fuzhou, did not take part in this matter. She sent him to Jade Capital to join his father, clearly determined to keep him far away from Poluo.

With 30% of the shares so fiercely contested and so many people scrambling for them, why would Qi Xuansu still set aside one share for Du Yuhua? The reason was that he used Du Yuhua for image sake. After all, she was an old shareholder. To leave not a single old shareholder behind would look bad, and it would be hard to justify.

The remaining 29% came to a total of 2.9 million Taiping coins at 100,000 Taiping coins per share.

Big pies were easy to cut. The smaller the portions, the harder it was, because cutting out one share or two required careful thought.

Qi Xuansu had been busy with these matters these past few days. Besides Daoist nobles, many local tycoons also wanted to buy in, and he could not ignore them. Each of these merchants was powerful, capable of producing millions of Taiping coins. That was why Qi Xuansu had set a 2% cap.

Every day, all sorts of people called on Chief Deputy Qi, so many that some even had to queue.

Within a few days, rumors began to circulate, saying that Qi Xuansu looked very much like another Nanyang emperor. In the past, it had been a three-way balance between Great Sage Lan, Golden Patriarch, and Wang Jiaohe. Now the first two remained, but Qi Xuansu had replaced Wang Jiaohe.

Qi Xuansu did not take it seriously and simply laughed it off.

As the date for the shareholders’ reorganization meeting approached, things on Qi Xuansu’s side finally quieted down. With nothing pressing today, he strolled casually through Tianfu Palace. Although he had stayed there for a long time, he had rarely had the chance to wander around and take a proper look.

Qi Xuansu soon discovered that Little Yin was in a side hall with a group of young Daoists, playing make-believe. There was nothing unusual about it, just children imitating adults, assigning each other roles as the mother, father, child, and so on.

He was rather curious. If Little Yin was playing the mother, then who was the father? So, he hid himself and watched quietly.

To Qi Xuansu’s surprise, Little Yin was playing on a much grander scale. It was still make-believe, but not the usual family roles. Instead, they were playing emperor and ministers. Naturally, Little Yin was the emperor, a reigning empress, while the other little Daoists were her subordinates.

They were playing with real flair too. First, they had a normal enthronement, then regicide and usurpation.

In the end, they even went so far as to don a make-shift imperial robe.

Several of the little Daoists solemnly draped a piece of yellow cloth over Little Yin’s body, then lifted her onto the incense table in front of the Primordial Daoit Ancestor’s statue, which served as the throne.

Imitating the tone she learned from the opera, Little Yin said, “What are you doing? I came here to be a loyal minister.”

One of the little Daoists produced a Daoist crown from who-knows-where, wrapped a strip of yellow cloth around it to make it an imperial crown, and placed it on Little Yin’s head.

Little Yin beamed and said, “You’re really getting me into trouble!”

All the little Daoists cried out in unison, “The armies cannot go without a master. We beseech Your Excellency to become the Empress! Long live the empress!”

Little Yin adjusted the crown on her head and declared, “I was but a commoner who wished only to be a wealthy landowner. I never expected you to do this. But since things have come to this, I shall reluctantly accept your request.”

Then Little Yin began appointing her ministers, mixing titles from different dynasties without a care. Anything she had heard in operas, she used.

Little Yin named the realm the Great You Dynasty and grabbed a stone, casually carving, “Mandated by Heaven, may it endure and prosper forever,” to serve as the imperial seal. She then set the reign title as Wanmiao.

One Daoist who was on good terms with Little Yin was made the Crown Prince, while another became the Second Crown Prince. Who said there could be only one crown prince anyway?

Two little Daoist nuns were also appointed as the Consort of the Crown Princes.

The two crown princes were unhappy with each other and began vying for favor.

“Why can you be the Crown Prince?”

“Why can’t I be the Crown Prince?”

“What qualifications do you have to be Crown Prince? On what grounds are you the Crown Prince?”

“I’ve followed Her Majesty the Empress for so many years!”

In the end, Qi Xuansu could no longer bear to watch this childish play.

With his own strength, he suppressed this “rebellion,” wiped out the mutinous forces, and captured the newly enthroned Empress. In the blink of an eye, the Great You Empire collapsed, its ministers scattering like birds.

Taking pity on her ignorance and folly, Qi Xuansu showed mercy and merely punished her by ordering her to copy the Daoist Classic three times.

Little Yin had been influenced by Qi Xuansu and had even picked up his habits. It showed just how important a child’s environment was in their upbringing.

At first, Little Yin spent all her time interacting with old ghosts, heavy with ghostly aura and light on human warmth. Now, she was no longer a little ghost and had become more human, but she had also learned how to twist and turn like a human.

......

In the blink of an eye, the day of the formal shareholders’ restructuring meeting arrived.

Everything proceeded according to the plan drafted by Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu. It was first come, first served. Regardless of how powerful one’s connections were, anyone able to participate was no ordinary figure, and no one could reserve a spot without paying. There was no such thing as signing up first and raising the money later. If one did not have the money upfront, one would have to give their slot to someone else.

But before that, there was a ceremony. Xie Jiaofeng, as the local host, spoke on behalf of the Poluo Daoist Mansion, turning the meeting into a victory conference.

Then came the rehanging of the plaque. The old plaque had been written by Sun Heyu. But since Sun Heyu was now imprisoned, it had been removed overnight. The new plaque was written by Great Sage Lan. Ordinarily, Great Sage Lan disliked drawing such attention, but Qi Xuansu felt that he was far too young to inscribe it, so he had personally requested the old Great Sage’s calligraphy.

After the plaque was hung, there were firecrackers everywhere, as if it were a festival. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Then came the main event, which was the subscription of shares.

In truth, most of the allocation had already been settled beforehand. This was merely the formal confirmation.

Of the 29% of shares available, the Daoist elites took roughly 15%. Some bought 2% stakes, while some bought 1% stakes. Anyone who could produce so much Taiping coins was no minor household.

Among these, the Quanzhen Sect took the largest share, since Poluo was its jurisdiction. The Xu, Shangguan, and Tang families each held 2%. The Ji family was originally allotted 1%, but Qi Xuansu remembered Daoist Ji’s chivalrous help in the past and raised it to 2%. That made 8% in total. Adding the Yao family’s 13%, the Pei family’s 6%, and the Qi family’s 5% brought the total to 32%, slightly higher than even the Poluo Daoist Mansion, which was the largest single shareholder.

From the size of the holdings alone, one could roughly see the relative strength of the families. The Yao family ranked first, the Pei family second, and the Qi family third.

Aside from the Quanzhen Sect families, the others were also taken care of. Although the Zhang and Li families did not participate, that did not mean the Zhengyi Sect, the Taiping Sect, or the Grand Master’s lineage were excluded. The Su, Jiang, Lu, Shi, Xiao, and Bai families each received 1%.

Great Sage Lan, Qi Xuansu, and Xu Jiaorong—those directly involved—took no shares at all.

In truth, even if Qi Xuansu had wanted a share, he simply did not have that much money. Producing a few hundred Taiping coins to humor Little Yin was one thing, but tens of thousands were entirely out of the question.

Madam Qi’s Fenglin Trading Company, together with the Poluo Daoist Mansion, held 50%. With Du Yuhua’s 1% added, they had just enough to exercise absolute control over the Nanyang United Trading Company.

This was advantageous for the re-election of the board after the restructuring, because the board did not operate on share proportions. Regardless of how many shares one held, each director had one vote. Thus, share size did not directly determine decisions. It determined who sat on the board. Major shareholders could use the general meeting to place their own people on the board. Once their people held a majority, they controlled the votes, and that was how true decision-making power was secured.

The remaining 14% was subscribed by wealthy merchants, generally 1% per person.

Qi Xuansu had two main considerations. These wealthy merchants were seasoned professionals, and bringing them in was beneficial to the company’s development. Daoist elites did not know how to run businesses, so letting them interfere at will would only create chaos. Thus, they should leave things to the professionals.

Those who were suitable could be placed on the board. Since their shareholdings were small and highly dispersed, they would not threaten Daoist control over the Nanyang United Trading Company.

This was Qi Xuansu’s fundamental goal: to balance public and private interests as much as possible. That way, he could satisfy all sides without making enemies, while also safeguarding Daoist interests and fulfilling his chief duties of keeping trade flowing and finances stable for the Daoist Order.