The following day, upon receiving the news, Burns brought his vampire clan to New Aini City and set up a stall in the planned trade zone to buy fresh human blood.
At this moment, Burns no longer possessed the noble air he had when he was first seen in Allen City. His thin body and listless spirit made him appear as a walking corpse, utterly dejected.
That's how vampires are; without a sufficient supply of fresh blood, they will gradually lose their vitality.
Cecilia did not accept Xia Qingyi's suggestion to help the vampires with their publicity, but she also did not deliberately stop them. She acted as if nothing had happened and let Burns set up a stall in the trade area and start buying blood.
In the beginning, many people were afraid of vampires, and no one dared to sell their blood. Even when Burns raised the price of a bag of blood to 10 gold coins, no one was interested.
However, as time went on, when Cecilia posted today's notice, some people finally couldn't sit still anymore.
"Seriously? Food needs to be bought with gold coins? Those who chose to grow food before, aren't they going to make a fortune?"
“We work hard every day, and all the money goes to these farmers. Why should we pay them? I want to protest!”
"That's right. We all earn money by working, so why can those who farm sell their grain and get money, while we can only spend money to buy grain?"
The notice posted on the bulletin board immediately caused a huge uproar. They had been eating for free before, and now they were suddenly being told they needed money. Who would be willing to do that?
The protests continued, but no one paid any attention to them. Cecilia didn't even show up; she simply had the guards post the notices and then left.
You can imagine that this kind of thing will be met with a lot of abuse, but abuse aside, I'm not giving you food anymore. If you want to survive, you have to buy it from other places.
Many calm people have already quietly left, planning to buy some grain from their friends who grow it before the news spreads, or to go to the grain distribution center to collect today's grain, or even see if they can get more.
When those people shouted for a long time but found that no one was paying attention to them, and even when there were fewer and fewer people around, they finally realized that something was wrong, and they all turned off their engines and rushed towards the trade zone, but it was too late.
"Grain is sold at a fixed price of 100 jin for 1 gold coin. Each person is limited to one purchase. Price gouging or bulk buying is strictly prohibited!" Although the notice board is ignored, there are still guards stationed in the trade area.
Cecilia had participated in the governance of the country alongside her father, the king, and knew where problems might arise in this situation. Price gouging, mass shopping... these things were far more serious than the commotion on the bulletin board.
Therefore, Cecilia initially focused on the trade zone, regulating grain prices and maintaining order to ensure that everyone could trade in an orderly manner.
Not only that, he even had his guards open a grain shop next door to strictly control the sale of grain. This batch of grain was not only grown by his people, but also given to him by Xia Qingyi.
Although Xia Qingyi wanted to get the currency circulating in New Aini City, it didn't mean she would ignore the lives of these people; however, a sufficient food supply was still necessary.
"One hundred catties per person is still a bit too much. It seems we need to mint some smaller denominations of currency. We also need a money exchange to collect and exchange the currency!" Xia Qingyi looked at the bustling grain market and kept making notes in her notebook.
"A money exchange? Why don't I send someone to build one now?" Upon hearing Xia Qingyi's words, Cecilia's heart stirred. No one would be unmoved by the enormous profits of a money exchange, especially since this would be the first money exchange on the Primordial Star.
"No rush. The establishment of the currency requires approval from the lord. Whether you can open it depends on the lord's decision!" Xia Qingyi said, glancing at him indifferently. Everyone wants this piece of the pie, but whether or not it can be touched depends on Ye Chen's decision.
"I know, I know. I'll have to trouble Lord Xia to put in a good word for us. The Aini people will definitely be the Lord's most loyal followers!" Cecilia said immediately, but Xia Qingyi just pursed her lips and didn't say anything.
Did you really take my words of comfort seriously? And you even tried to flatter me? What lord would entrust a money exchange to an outsider's family? You must have had your head caught in a door.
If Ye Chen really lets the Aini people open a bank, then she might have to reconsider how intelligent this lord is.
"The grain trade has already begun. Just have someone keep an eye on things to prevent any problems. People from other races may also come here to sell and buy grain later, and currency will officially begin circulating!" Looking at the long queue of people buying grain, Xia Qingyi said with relief. As long as nothing goes wrong, the trade starting with grain will officially begin.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen!" Cecilia nodded solemnly; he also took this matter very seriously.
"Hmm!" Xia Qingyi replied casually, her gaze suddenly sweeping over a very deserted stall in the trade area, with a sign hanging on it advertising the acquisition of fresh blood.
"Is that a vampire's stall?" Xia Qingyi asked. "Did they buy any blood today?"
Upon hearing this, Cecilia also looked towards the vampires. She saw several emaciated vampires listlessly slumped on the table, waiting for people to sell their blood. At the same time, their eyes were fixed on the crowd queuing to buy food, their gazes filled with longing.
“This? Yes, the leader is Burns, the patriarch of the vampire clan. However, it seems that they haven’t acquired any blood yet today. People are still very afraid of vampires!” Cecilia was slightly taken aback before answering.
Xia Qingyi frowned slightly, then glanced at Cecilia and the others. "Take a few guards and go sell a bag of blood!"
Even the prince of the Aeneas personally went to the vampire stalls to sell his blood, which naturally greatly reduced the people's fear of vampires.
However, upon hearing her words, Cecilia and his guards both changed their expressions. Ordinary people are still very wary of vampires and selling blood, even princes and professionals are no exception.
However, seeing Xia Qingyi's gaze, Cecilia had no choice but to bite the bullet and go. He knew that Xia Qingyi wanted him to set an example, and only if he went would the other Ani people follow.
"Your Highness!" Seeing that Cecilia really wanted to go over, the guards around her immediately tried to stop her, but he stopped them.
“It’s nothing, just a blood draw, nothing serious!” Cecilia said, taking a deep breath and walking toward Burns’s stall.
Xia Qingyi, watching from afar, nodded slightly. Compared to Mike, Cecilia was indeed more suited to be a ruler.
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