Sales of the skin-care products were as good as ever, bringing the City-state a steady income of thirty to fifty thousand shillings a day, but the money was nowhere near enough for construction, and work was slowing down. Riel approached Ronnie to discuss, "The markets around here are saturated now, if we want to expand sales we'll have to go to towns farther away."
"Then you put together a sales team to go out there so the sales will be better, and then we'll expand the production of the product, fortunately that's not a problem now that there are more and more people on the island."
"What about you? do you want to go out with me?" Riel asked quietly.
"I'm waiting for Amandine to come back, as soon as he checks the list, I'll get off the island and meet the people too."
"I want to go with you, the sales can be left to someone else."
"Who else do you think will be working?" Ronnie asked.
"There's a guy named 'Samuel Jay' who's very capable, so put him in charge."
"Samuel Jay? I remember this man as one of the twelve Grand Council of Elders later on."
"Oh, it seems that he really has some ability."
"Good! you will put him in charge so that it will be easier for you as well."
Twenty-six people failed the City-state's first professional evaluation and were expelled from the island. The number of people left who passed the test was two hundred and thirty-two; these people were 16 scientific researchers, 32 medics, 24 city guards, 19 personnel from the Zi City Preparation Office, 22 commodity and food administrators, and the rest were all reserve emergency personnel. Ronnie's guys were a founding member and did not participate in the test. He wanted to form the "External Knights," which consisted of stock traders, lawyers, entrepreneurs, intelligence officers, and all kinds of related professionals, and would also be responsible for dealing with local governments. He asked Glo to specialize in recruiting these talents, Glo was responsible for the construction of Zi City, she did not raise a penny of money, but brought in a lot of people.
Amandine outside for half a month, finally returned to the island. Ronnie saw him and asked, "How's the investigation going?"
"Dad, can't you just let me sit down and talk about it?"
Amandine took a few slow sips of water before he spoke, "There are two people I really can't find out about, the other six are clear."
"Good, then you rest for two days and go out with me the day after tomorrow."
"You still want me to go out!" Amandine couldn't help shouting.
Ronnie laughed, "It's okay if you don't go, then Riel and I will leave tomorrow."
The next day he took Riel off the island in the morning, and now that the island had bought two more speedboats and a bigger ferry, Ronnie and the two of them took the speedboat. The first person they were looking for was a South African named "Knea" who was in the gold business. Ronnie was wanted in Tanzania, so they took a plane from Kenya to South Africa. South Africa is located at the southernmost tip of the African continent, they want to go to the city of Bloemfontein, arrived at noon. Amandine's investigation was still very detailed, the name of the "Knea" home address and members of the family were very clear. Ronnie and his team went straight to the house. "Who are you looking for?" a doorman asked.
"We're looking for Mr. Knea, is he home?"
"Sorry, did he invite you?"
"Yes, he asked us to meet him here at one o'clock," Riel interrupted.
"Oh! come in then," the porter opened the door and let them in.
They followed the doorman past a garden, then a corridor, and after two more turns a two-story building appeared in front of them. The doorman said to the other butler-like man, "These two have an appointment with our master."
"I didn't hear about that! tell them to wait, I'll go in and ask."
"What to do?" Ronnie whispered to Riel, "It looks like it's going to reveal itself."
"I'll take care of it, you keep quiet for now," Riel spoke up and called to the butler, "We are looking for Mr. Knea to talk about the gold business, please make sure he sees us once."
The butler nodded and returned a short time later and said, "Our master invites you in."
The two followed the butler, they went up to the second floor, the first thing that caught their eyes was a portrait, "Who is the lady on the painting?" Ronnie opened his mouth and asked the butler who was leading the way in front of him.
"She is our master's grandmother, who died more than twenty years ago."
As the two of them spoke, they had already reached the living room, only to see a man in his fifties sitting on a large sofa, he saw Ronnie and the two of them coming in, and first opened his mouth to ask, "Why are you looking for me? I don't seem to know you."
Arriving here, Ronnie was ready to tell the truth, he quickly looked at the other party, saw his face was righteous, his heart was a little more at ease, and he said, "Hello Mr. Knea, my name is Ronnie, this is Ms. Riel, we have built a new city on Ardabusha Island, there are more than two hundred people on the island now, we have heard that you are a dreamer who likes all kinds of novelties, I am here and now representing the islanders to formally invite you to join us."
"Why would I want to join you? what's so special about your city?"
"Our city is called a 'City-state,' it consists of a nine-grid structure divided into nine different functional areas, and the highest administrator is jointly held by twelve members of the Grand Council of Elders, and if you are able to join, you will be one of those twelve members."
"Are there any requirements for joining?" Knea asked.
Seeing that the other party was already moved, Ronnie happily said, "Of course, each member of the Grand Council of Elders must donate two hundred million shillings, and this money is currently being used mainly to build Zi City."
"How many members of the Grand Council of Elders are there now? How many donors?" Knea asked two questions in a row.
"The members of the Grand Council of Elders have not yet been elected, and you will be the first donor."
Knea was silent for a long time before he said: "Let's do it that way! I will consider it when the number of donors reaches three. "
Halfway out of Knea's house, Riel complained, "You should have just said there's already more than one donor, it's not like he knows."
"It doesn't matter if you lie about small things, but it's better to be honest about important things, it's the basis of mutual cooperation."
"Okay! you are right with everything you said, today is also a rewarding day, let's find a hotel to rest," she lowered her head as she said this.
Ronnie reached out and wrapped his arm around her slender waist and whispered in her ear, "Why are you blushing?"
The woman hastily shook her head in denial, but the flushed cheeks and shy eyes betrayed her. After a day of rest at the hotel, the second person they were to meet was Branz, Riel blushed slightly at the name, "What's wrong?" Ronnie asked.
"The name is the same as my ex-husband's, so it's a little weird."
"Isn't your ex-husband dead? besides, he is in Zambia."
"I also lived in Zambia when I first came to Africa before I went to Tanzania," Riel explained.
"You suspect it's the same person?"
"I don't know, he was a soldier then and disappeared after fighting a losing battle, I always thought he was dead."
"Won't everything be clear when we find him?"
"Ronnie, it's better not to go, what if it really is him?"
Ronnie laughed, "Wouldn't that be better, the persuasion would have a much higher success rate. We also need to open a gap, what if the man also has to see if someone else has a donation before he'll make an offer?"
"There are a lot of rich people in the world, why does it have to be this guy?" Riel still wasn't quite there.
"But this person is on the list, if we change it, maybe history will change, and I have a feeling this person is very important."
Riel was finally convinced. The two got on a plane to Zambia and quickly found Branz's house by following the address Amandine had given them. Riel was nervous, she was eager and afraid to see this person, when four eyes met she immediately recognized the man in front of her, he was her ex-husband Branz. The other man was also surprised to see her and said, "Riel, how did you find your way here?"
Ronnie sighed in his heart, "Fate is truly inscrutable, two lovers separated for twenty years can actually meet again like this, and that's when he remembered Michiko," he saw that they had something to say to each other, so he went out in silence.
He waited alone outside for over half an hour before Riel called him back. Seeing him, Branz said gratefully, "Thanks for bringing Riel to me, I'll give you the two hundred million shillings you asked for, and I'll call some more donors for you."
Ronnie didn't expect this to go surprisingly well and solve the problem right away. He said to Branz, "Can I talk to Riel alone for a moment?"
"Sure."
When Branz left, Ronnie looked at Riel and asked, "Are you going to stay here or are you coming with me?"
"If I go, I'm afraid Branz will retreat, doesn't he have to introduce some more donors? let's just wait here!"
"I'm no longer useful here, the only person he wants to see is you," Ronnie said.
"You want to leave me here alone?" Riel said annoyed.
Ronnie had expected the other man to be happy, but in the end he stayed with Riel. True to his word, Branz introduced Ronnie to a number of his friends, two of whom were on the list. Ronnie was so intrigued that he found three at once, plus Knea reached half the number. He stayed another three days and wanted to leave, but Branz told him, "I'd like Riel to stay here a few more days, and then those of us who are here can visit the island together."
"What do you think?" Ronnie asked Riel.
"Good! I want you to be back on the island by then, too."
Ronnie left and went to the fifth person, who was a woman, "Is 'Marion' at home, please?"
There was a long wait before an old woman came out, "I'm sorry sir, my lady is out and won't be back until tomorrow."
He had to wait the rest of the day, the next day he returned at noon and went up to knock on the door again, this time a middle aged woman in her forties soon came out, she looked Ronnie up and down and after a long time asked, "Was it you who came to see me yesterday?"
"Yes, are you Ms. 'Marion'?"
The woman nodded, "What did you want to see me about?"
"Can I come in and talk?" Ronnie said.
The woman hesitated for a moment before saying, "Okay! you don't look like a bad person."
Ronnie entered the house and wondered if he had the wrong person because the family really didn't look like she was rich, and he muttered to himself, "Could it be someone with the same name?"
After they sat down, he explained his intentions to the lady, but unexpectedly, the other party's reaction was so strong that she wanted to go to the island right away. This woman named "Marion" was a widow, no children, no friends, she spent all day keeping her late husband's inheritance, she was too lonely. When she heard Ronnie say there was such a place, she immediately agreed to donate all her money, although it was less than 10 million shillings, Ronnie was very touched and stayed with her to deal with the property, and then took the woman to look for the sixth member.