MMORPG: Crowd Control

For the next few days before having to meet with Tang Qiaolian for dinner, Lei Zhen was taking his time, relaxing in Magnolia.

He was debating on which continent to explore next while taking this opportunity to guide Kate.

There were no documents needed to be signed or any orders to be made as he officially retired from his position, but received an honorary title.

Of course, the citizens were confused by the arrangement; some even tried to protest the decision of getting rid of such a great chancellor.

It was hectic to the point that Lei Zhen needed to come out and address the public that it was him wanting to resign.

While he recalled the chaotic moment, Lei Zhen subtly regained his focus when he saw Kate making a wrong choice.

"Wrong again, Kate." He calmly said, pointing at the question.

"Right here stated that the product is the same but it's getting smaller. Yet food prices are still rising. When this happens, it means a company is doing something called shrinkflation."

"But what is shrinkflation, Lei Zhen?" Kate asked in a confused tone.

Currently, she was being taught economics by Lei Zhen since she was going to become the queen. Being a queen, it was a must that she should understand some economic method that was used by business people.

Otherwise, the country could easily be taken advantage of by the shrewdness of the businessman who could use her ignorance to evade taxes and harm the citizens.

Originally, Lei Zhen wanted Chris to help her, but Chris was still busy with the task that Kate assigned. Which was to strike a trade cooperation with the neighboring countries that supported her during the civil war.

Lei Zhen decided to teach Kate before leaving as gratitude and mainly because she persuaded him to help her.

"A shrinkflation is when those shrewd merchants want to increase the prices of their product but don't want to add more content to it. This means that if you wanted to buy a sword and it cost 3 silver, and then the next day, it cost 5 silver for the same sword but the length of it was decreased." He explained.

What he basically meant was that shrinkflation is a common method used by shrewd merchants to sell the same product but have its content or size reduced while charging an even higher price.

With Lei Zhen's swift explanation, Kate's expression turned cold.

"Hmph, the country already suffered enough and most families have lost their members. If the merchants dared to do such dirty tactics to increase their venue, then I'll have them beheaded." She shouted angrily.

"Wrong again," Lei Zhen shook his head and flicked her forehead.

"What's the point of beheading them when it would backfire instead?" He scolded.

"Then what else can we do?

"The proper solution to this is to arrest the company president immediately and give him two choices. One is to restore the food prices and pay a fine or prepare to have their company shut down."

"But what if they don't care and decide to open their company elsewhere from our jurisdiction?"

Lei Zhen suddenly smirked and whispered to her ears.

By the time he finished, Kate's expression turned brighter as she nodded her head.

"Hehe, you are even more shrewd than those wicked merchants." Kate teased.

However, the next moment, she became downcast and had a sullen expression.

'Not again…' Lei Zhen cried inwardly.

During these times of tutoring her, he had seen her making this face countless times.

And whenever she made this face, it was her way of saying please don't leave and stay here.

"Anyway, that should be enough for our lesson today. I have to do something so I'll be leaving first." Lei Zhen decided to leave before anything else happened.

Kate wanted to halt him, but Lei Zhen pretended to be deaf and returned to his room.

Kate could only smile bitterly at him and glanced at the question that Lei Zhen had just taught her.

'Am I really that unattractive to have him stay with me?' She wondered silently.

Alas, her question wouldn't be answered since Lei Zhen had already logged off Magnolia the moment he returned to his room.

He grabbed the best clothes possible to dress for the occasion.

The Guangzhou Plaza Restaurant only receives guests that are dressed formally. Hence, he could not wear shabby clothes since that would only result in embarrassment and sneering from others.

Of course, he wouldn't care about what others think, but it was Tang Qiaolian that invited him so he needed to respect her foremost.

Looking at the reflection in the mirror, Lei Zhen made sure everything was neatly arranged. He even gels his hair properly, increasing his handsomeness by some margin.

Lei Zhen also wanted to add some cologne but decided against it. That would actually be awkward in case Tang Qiaolian mistook him for dressing so great.

'Still, I wonder who's the person that wanted to meet with me?' He tried to ask Tang Qiaolian about it, but she merely told him that he would know when he arrived, making it mysterious for no apparent reason.

Sometime later, Lei Zhen left his apartment and made his way toward the train station.

And naturally, his attire attracted some attention since it was considered a lower neighborhood, so seeing someone dressed in fancy clothes would pique their curiosity.

Nevertheless, Lei Zhen turned a blind eye to what others were saying about him as he calmly waited for the stop to arrive at the Guangzhou Palace station.

The Guangzhou Palace was still lively despite being nighttime as numerous lights were lit on and people strolled around the streets.

Taking a deep breath, Lei Zhen slowly reminisced about the time when he was here as a little kid.

He would be holding Lei Qingxuan as they ran around the streets while their parents would tell them to behave.

In addition, many people would be crowding toward them, but now, not a single person even took a glance at him.

'Truly, how times can change multiple things.' Lei Zhen thought to himself.