Chapter 416: Chapter 281: Maggie’s Promotion
A mont later.
Chen Lun walked out of Hoyle’s office.
He held a contract in his hand, which outlined the rights and obligations of both parties, but for the Circus, it was exceptionally lenient and free. Apart from performing on stage once a week, he could even not co to the theater at all, yet Hoyle still offered a hundred Gold Pounds as a weekly salary, and twenty percent of the profits on performance days.
This was a very high salary.
After all, like typical performance troupes, the weekly salary was only eight to twelve Gold Pounds, and this money still had to be handed over to the Leader, who would then distribute it to the perforrs. Spread out, each person didn’t actually get much.
Hoyle was very generous, and it could even be said that he placed all of his limited remaining chips on this young man in a black hat that he had just t.
...
In addition to paying the salary, he also promised in the contract that he would spare no effort in hyping, promoting, and rallying support for the performance, with the hope of making the “City Garden” grand theater shine once again.
In Hoyle’s heart, he had already made up his mind that even if Jack was a swindler, he was willingly prepared to take the loss.
“Mr. Jack, let escort you out,” Hoyle said with a spring in his step and a smile as he followed out, closing the office door behind him.
“You are the theater owner, Mr. Hoyle.”
Chen Lun teased.
“This enthusiasm is surely making the other troupes jealous.”
As he spoke, he pointed at the corridor opposite the office.
There, a group of made-up actors who seed to be about to go on stage was gathering. Among them were three deford dwarves, a pair of hot-bodied young twin girls, and Mr. Corvey, who had just taken a bath and changed his clothes.
Mr. Corvey with the handlebar mustache was saying sothing ferociously to the others, and their faces all showed a hint of “shared animosity.”
Noticing the gaze of Chen Lun and Hoyle, those troupe mbers slightly restrained themselves, but still couldn’t help whispering complaints.
“Sorry, Mr. Jack, perhaps this has caused you so trouble, I will go and explain to them later…” Hoyle said, showing a bit of embarrassnt.
He was soone who valued old connections; although these troupes were diocre, they had followed the “City Garden” grand theater for a long ti, so it wasn’t good to be too harsh.
Chen Lun gave a smile but made no comnt.
The two arrived at the entrance of the theater to say goodbye.
Hoyle promised wholeheartedly that he would heat up the promotion within the coming week and hoped that Chen Lun would lead the “Jack Circus” to give their best performance on stage and fire the first shot for the theater.
“Rest assured, Mr. Hoyle.”
Chen Lun placed the black hat back on his head, revealing a polite smile.
“No need to see off, I will just hail a rental carriage on the roadside to return.”
Having said that, he strode away.
Even without looking back, Chen Lun could feel Hoyle’s gaze on him, and the complex emotions of excitent and nervousness contained within.
The smile on Chen Lun’s face beca sowhat playful.
Actually, he could clearly see that Hoyle was very sincere, just from this point on the contract.
Hence, since the objective of finding a public identity for the team was achieved, he was not averse to lending a hand to help the young man.
‘It’s just that those other troupes seem to have quite an animosity towards …’
He chuckled softly and shook his head.
*
*
*
After Chen Lun left,
inside the City Garden Grand Theater.
On the second-floor corridor, the performance troupe mbers were still gathered, and their numbers were growing. Corvey’s frustrated voice could be heard from a distance, along with the shrill, juvenile echoes of agreent.
“Ever since that guy showed up, Hoyle’s like a different person, and if this keeps up, we’re all gonna starve!”
Corvey said gravely.
“Yes!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!”
Three dwarves shouted from the side.
“And that guy is extrely narrow-minded; I’ve been played by him… If we don’t unite, it’ll be a bad ending for us all!”
“Yes!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!”
The three dwarves were indignant, their already deford facial features comically squished together.
“Can he really make birds flying over dance on command? Oh co on, Corvey, that’s just too fake!”
A girl with brown, explosive hair scorned, fiddling with a whip in her hand.
This was the younger of the Beast Taming sisters, nad Didelise Selena.
And her sister, Delia Selena, puffing on a lady’s cigarette, chuckled and said:
“Why don’t you exaggerate a little more, like… he can ta a dragon and scared you so bad you wet your pants? Oh, Corvey, is that why you ran off to the washroom in such a hurry?”
The sister blew a ring of smoke and rolled her eyes.
“Didelise and I have been in this business for over a decade, but we’ve never heard of such a Beast Tar.”
“Damn it! Delia, why do you keep focusing on that guy’s performance? I am saying we’re about to be finished!”
Corvey’s forehead bulged with veins as he said, suppressing his anger:
“Yes yes! He’s that amazing! The shit on is from the dumb bird he commanded to poop from the sky… and he also does Magic acts, pulling dozens, hundreds of doves directly from my hat! But none of that matters, what matters is…”
He took a deep breath.
“I was eavesdropping at the office door just now, guess what I heard?”
The others silently watched him, even the door nearby opened, and four or five young girls in uniform white long dresses walked out. These girls were also part of the “City Garden” Grand Theater performance troupe, responsible for choruses and accompanying opera narration.
“One hundred Gold Pounds! Weekly! And all the theater resources will be skewed towards that guy’s troupe!”
Corvey declared loudly.
“All of us combined don’t make as much as that newbie’s salary! What right does he have to use our resources… if this continues, we’ll all be kicked out of the theater!”
“Yes!”
“That’s right!”
“Exactly!”
The three dwarves echoed shrilly.
Even the Selena sisters couldn’t help frowning.
If what Corvey said is true, they might indeed face the risk of unemploynt.
Even if Corvey’s words were sowhat exaggerated, the news made every person present feel a sense of worry and anxiety. Now that the theaters in Peacock City were saturated, if they lost this job, small theaters couldn’t afford to keep them, and big theaters wouldn’t give them a second glance… They really didn’t know where to turn.
They seed to glimpse a grim future.
“Corvey, so what do you propose we do?”
Delia’s voice was grave.
“Of course, we have to sabotage that guy’s good fortune! On the day of the performance, we just need to tamper with the props and the stage a bit…”
Corvey gave a cold laugh.
The others imdiately caught on.
“Mr. Corvey, isn’t that a bad thing to do?”
A girl from the choir frowned, speaking hesitantly.
“What’s bad about it? Just wait until you’re hungry, and by then, don’t regret it!”
Corvey gave the girl a glance, with an expression of disappointnt.
“Emma.”
The girl’s companion, an older woman, pulled her back protectively.
Then, this older woman in a white dress addressed Corvey:
“We won’t get involved in this matter, but rest assured, we won’t spill the beans…”
With that, she pulled the other choir mbers around her and walked away.
“So damn won, always pretending to be so nice and acting like saints!”
Corvey cursed, while the dwarf beside him chid in, backing him up.
“Good riddance, they would’ve just ssed things up!”
Imdiately after, a group of people started to whisper their scheming plans.
*
*
*
After returning to the vineyard,
Chen Lun saw that Connie was already organizing the servants to clear the dead branches in the plantation, apparently planning to plant the grape cuttings—this was a task Chen Lun had previously assigned to her.
It was deep autumn now, a ti well-suited for the local grapes to grow. In three months, when these grapes ripened, Chen Lun would conveniently use them as the raw materials for making Supernatural Wine.
Elsewhere, several unfamiliar faces were busy in a corner of the estate; likely, they were masons and carpenters Connie had hired later on. Floey was watching from the side, seemingly preparing to plant so flowers and plants.
Chen Lun paused for a mont, then smiled to himself.
‘Everyone has adapted to the new environnt, which is good…’
He then turned and headed back to the main building villa.
As he entered, he saw Golov, Barton, and Morey drinking and chatting leisurely in the living room to the right.
“Leader, sir.”
Upon seeing Chen Lun, they quickly stood up and doffed their hats in greeting.
“Carry on,” said Chen Lun with a smile.
“By the way, where are Noah and Maggie?”
Golov explained that Noah had just stepped out, seemingly to accept a mysterious task passed on from the Silver Dragon Trade Association. Maggie, on the other hand, was upstairs working on her experints and hadn’t even co down for breakfast.
Chen Lun nodded and then went upstairs, intending to check on the players’ situation in the Immortal Realm from his room.
But halfway up the stairs, he suddenly sensed an odd supernatural fluctuation coming from above, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise.
‘Advanced?’
With a single step, Chen Lun appeared at the door of Maggie’s laboratory.
Knock, knock…
He knocked on the door.
A few seconds later,
The door opened from the inside, and Maggie, with her ssy hair, poked out her head, her face brimming with excitent.
“Ha… It’s you, Leader, heh, I’ve succeeded!”
She flung the door wide open, then said cheerfully.
“It looks like the ritual set up by the teacher and has been completed. I’ve just taken the ‘Plague Reagent,’ and I smoothly advanced to beco a [Plague Doctor]!”
“Hmm?”
Chen Lun was a bit puzzled.
Maggie then explained that Akebin had been preparing to advance to the [Mid Sequence-Disaster Disease Master] for so ti, and with her joining in, the process was accelerated.
anwhile, Akebin was also imparting knowledge to her, so along the way, Maggie studied while practicing and simply added her own ritual to Akebin’s.
One thing led to another.
Thus, when everything was complete, it ant that both individuals had t the conditions for advancent.
Just now, Maggie sensed the completion of the ritual intuitively and took her pre-formulated “Plague Reagent.” Sure enough, the high concentration of plague contained in the reagent successfully took root in her body, and she advanced smoothly.
“So, Akebin succeeded as well?”
Chen Lun asked.
“Yes, Leader!”
The smile never left Maggie’s face.
“Now I feel fantastic and have gained several new abilities!”
According to her, the [Plague Doctor] not only had strong disease resistance, toxin resistance, and mysterious resistance, but also had the power to manipulate plagues.
Beyond that, Akebin had taught her a few “exclusive secret techniques,” such as breeding plague dogs, creating plague bombs, life cores, and many new reagent formulas, etc.
“Congratulations, Maggie, you’ve taken another step closer to your dream,” Chen Lun said with a smile.
With Maggie’s advancent, it heralded that all core mbers of the Jack Circus had reached the Mid Sequence. This was a significant improvent in the team’s overall strength, especially so for Maggie, a “support staff” mber, who could now concoct even more potent Supernatural Reagents for everyone.
“Hehe, thank you, Leader,” Maggie bead, unable to hide her joy.
“This is cause for celebration. Let’s have a good al tonight… and I’ll also share our upcoming plans and arrangents,”
“Okay, Leader.”
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