Let's disregard for a moment that Emperor Gafura lost his temper and lashed out in the Ruler's Hall; Lynch encountered his birthday.

October 10th, he turned twenty-two.

On October 10th last year, he didn't celebrate his birthday. He wasn't very used to it, or rather, before coming to this world, he had gotten used to not celebrating his birthday.

In such a place, celebrating a birthday is actually a kind of torment because you can never escape a cage your whole life. Each birthday only serves as a reminder that certain people have murdered another year of yourself with such a method.

So the people there generally don't celebrate birthdays, which is different from small rooms in ordinary, more widespread regions.

In those regions' ordinary small rooms, people do celebrate birthdays. Some friendly places even organize birthday events, allowing everyone to find some amusement, along with talent shows and the like, creating a lively atmosphere.

Because they can eventually leave and gain freedom, every birthday celebrated means they are one step closer to freedom.

But in Lynch's place, every birthday brings him one step closer to the grave.

This also made Lynch, after coming here, not really care whether he celebrated his birthday or not.

This time, he didn't want to celebrate his birthday either; it didn't mean much. Yet, he unexpectedly couldn't successfully avoid it because Rella chased him here to celebrate his birthday.

Before realizing he was going to celebrate his birthday, Lynch had just finished a communication salon with some local merchants, foreign merchants, and domestic merchants.

It sounds a bit complicated, but it's actually a group of uneasy merchants and a group of somewhat excited merchants gathering together to discuss upcoming market and competition issues.

Lynch had previously said that the United Development Company wouldn't divvy everything up like Pretton Trading Company did.

The Federation is still a nation concerned with appearances, even though they internally yearn to do just that and actually do so through other means, but they won't say it out loud, much less admit to it.

Everything is to be left for the market to dictate, no longer monopolized by institutions like Pretton Trading Company. This is truly the righteous justice.

In the past, everything from what business to do each year, how much to do, and how much to earn, was tightly controlled; so tightly that these people merely needed to assign a few subordinates to handle routine daily tasks and just wait for the money to roll in.

But now it's different. Lynch has opened up the market, and even he won't be monopolizing the market share, which makes the ensuing market competition exceptionally fierce.

Competition among local merchants, foreign merchants, and Federation merchants will resemble a bloody war without any rules; initially, people will face price wars, and the conflicts will swiftly escalate.

The only judge of this war is Lynch, so from a certain perspective, this meeting equates to him laying down the rules and then pulling the trigger on the starting gun.

Currently, he's not very interested in these local businesses, but he's very concerned about the local market. After all, it's a market of two to three hundred million people; once these people become wealthy, their consumption potential will even attract the attention of Federation people.

This is one of his plans, or rather, one of United Development Company's plans. They will provide suitable jobs and wages to the people of Nagariel, fully exploiting their labor value.

Then, through the sale of services and goods, they will take back a significant portion, and this is perfect!

Lynch, who was deep in thought, continued walking forward, and just as the door to the room opened, suddenly there was a cheer in his ear that almost startled him.

"Happy Birthday," clearly words meant to make someone happy, yet they made him slightly bemused.

Fortunately, he had seen many major events, and this incident was still within his psychological endurance. He quietly unclenched his fist and timely revealed a look of disbelief on his face.

Standing closest to him, Rella's face was flushed, holding what seemed to be a hat — Federation people have many actions related to rituals.

For instance, different holidays involve different menus, and even where they are eaten can be very particular.

Then there's the gang involvement; the fights between gang members are quite ritualistic, from how people are killed to how things are handled afterwards, all of this can be traced. Those veteran policemen can immediately gather firsthand case information from the scene of a gang fight.

Of course, this also includes the birthday party. Wearing a pointed colorful hat becomes the "ritual" of the birthday party, making it an indispensable ceremony.

Rella didn't notice the helplessness behind Lynch's surprised expression as she placed the hat on him and pulled him into the room.

When entering the room, Lynch saw the Provincial Governor Drag, who had changed into Federation attire, and he instantly felt a lot better.

"I didn't know you were coming..." Lynch softly said as he stood before a cake taller than a person.

The girl's face slightly blushed, "I read a book. The book says one should fight for their happiness, so I came because I believe you are my happiness."

This direct confession left Lynch somewhat at a loss. Did Mr. Wardrick misunderstand something, sending this young woman here?

In fact, Lynch shared the same view as Mr. Wardrick. He was unlikely to marry Rella as his wife, and Mr. Wardrick wouldn't allow him to anyway.

To Lynch, the female side was too strong — this is not about Rella's attitude in life and work, but rather that her family background and relationships far exceeded Lynch's, which in turn would not be of any help to Lynch.

It might even limit Lynch's development due to their relationship. During business talks with Lynch, people might consider Rella and the capital forces behind her more, pondering whether proceeding might lead to negative repercussions, thereby simply bypassing Lynch.

Any growth or progress Lynch made could be seen as developments gained through Rella's connections and help, which is undoubtedly fatal to both his personal and business endeavors.

Unless he can grow enough for people to overlook his origins and background before they marry, but in the short term, this seems unlikely. It would require at least a decade, making this inevitably a love affair without a result.

Perhaps, this is why Mr. Wardrick sent her over?

Because he knows the outcome?

However, regardless, being valued by someone is still delightful. After softly saying "thank you," Lynch cut the cake.

Not far away, mere hundreds of meters, Mr. Simon returned home just in time.

The salon they organized this time made his already low spirits even lower.

At the meeting, Lynch declared he wouldn't interfere in the competition between merchants but wouldn't allow malicious competition to emerge.

He mentioned what he considers malicious competition, but in Mr. Simon's view, Lynch is merely preventing them from breaking some local and possibly even Federation laws, or he is essentially suppressing local foreign merchants like Mr. Simon.

Since they have been here longer, they are more familiar with the society and all its layers here. If anyone were to utilize criminal acts to undermine competitors, undoubtedly, it would be someone as deeply connected locally as Mr. Simon.

Lynch set rules to restrain local foreign merchants like them but didn't regulate malicious behaviors in competition such as run-outs and bidding wars.

These two situations are what almost all merchants most fear encountering, whether the former or the latter.

There are many types of run-outs, the most common being returns. Don't think that this era has no concept of returns. As long as the customer finds the product unsatisfactory, they can request a refund.

Whether or not to refund may be the merchant's choice, but if they refuse and create a fuss, the adverse impact is borne by the merchant themselves.

But if they refund, others buy and then return again, should they still stock goods?

No stocking, nothing to sell.

Stocking leads to returned goods being sent back, causing backlogs and tying up significant funds.

And let's not even mention the even more frightening bidding wars, which can make merchants lose everything. During the Pretton Trading Company period, they directly set standard prices, or protective prices to ensure the benefits of every distributor, and this has been what allowed everyone to support Pretton Trading Company. Now all that is over.

Federation merchants have more advantages than them, and they are simply not opponents of the Federation merchants. Perhaps leaving now is the right decision.

He walked into the study with a frown and called in his butler, "Find out recently how much my properties, estates, factories, and shops are worth..."

He tried to speak in a calm tone, but the butler still detected a different nuance. The butler hesitated for a moment before testingly asking, "Sir, are you planning to leave?"

"Leave?" Mr. Simon laughed, "Of course not. This afternoon at the salon, I met some Federation merchants, and these people are very arrogant. I've decided to teach them a lesson, let them know that even without Pretton Trading Company, we are still half the masters here!"

His bold statement, though, didn't convince the butler that's indeed the case.

While thinking about how to further dispel the butler's doubt, Mr. Simon's gaze unintentionally landed on his son at the edge of the courtyard, chatting with a young man across the not-so-tall hedge.

He frowned but soon relaxed again, having no intention of taking his child and his mother away, only planning to leave alone.

A short while later, the butler emerged from the study and happened to encounter the young master who had just finished chatting. The latter instantly noticed the worry lines on the butler's face.

As someone trying hard to prove himself to be a good child, he was observant and meticulous.

He approached the butler and softly asked, "Mr. Butler, what's troubling you? You seem to have something on your mind."

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