As dawn broke, Ting Guigu left his warm little nest and rushed to the 'Zhen Ting Precision Machinery Factory' located in the outer city.

Just by analyzing the name, one can tell that Ting Guigu has a deep connection with the former Silver Blood Association leader, Ting Gu.

In fact, their fathers were also in a master-servant relationship. The former patriarch had a son named Ting Gu, so the old servant named his son Ting Guigu.

It sounds like a name that blesses the young master with prosperity.

An old sycophant's tactics indeed.

In fact, doing so is very risky because the Ting family sons fighting over the inheritance is an old tradition, and who knows who will win in the end.

Naming your child Ting Guigu is akin to betting in advance that Ting Gu will win. If Ting Gu loses, you might face physical elimination because the name is illegal.

A family that trafficks in manufacturing firearms isn't any kinder, but still better than the Jing family—after all, the Ting family might invite you for peanuts, whereas the Jing family almost invites you to eat shit.

But the result is clear: Ting Gu won. Hence, the bet his father placed, Ting Guigu, leaped to become a hot figure in Ting family circles, moving directly out of the servant class and marrying a Ting family collateral descendant, thus becoming an insider.

Having competent outsiders marry into collateral bloodlines to build relationships is almost a routine technique in the illustrious upper society. In the past, Lan Yan married Lv Zhong's youngest daughter; recently, all families and associations practice this.

For instance, these days Yin Minghong looks every bit like Jing Zhengwei's capable lackey. Everyone is speculating that Yin Minghong might soon become Jing Zhengwei's brother-in-law, and several relatives of the Jing family with daughters of marriageable age have already prepared.

Although Ting Guigu has become Ting Gu's confidant, the core industry of the Ting family is the firearms manufacturing factory.

That factory, located outside the county, is a fortress guarded by armed forces, though it should have been temporarily taken over for production by the Linhai Army now.

Newly promoted from servitude to an insider, someone of 'one generation of Ting family people' like Ting Guigu naturally wasn't qualified to get involved in firearms manufacturing. But Ting Gu didn't shortchange him and made him the director of 'Zhen Ting Precision Machinery Factory.'

Although it looks like an ordinary factory producing mechanical parts, in reality, it is one of the most profitable factories in the entire Xuanzhu County.

The only others comparable are the Jing family's tobacco factory and the No-Gui Lou in the inner city casino.

Rumble!

Ting Guigu pushed open the factory door, and a worker immediately greeted him with a nod and bow: "Good day, Director!"

"Has A Cai arrived?"

"Waiting for you upstairs!"

"Alright, you go on with your work then."

Ting Guigu walked through the factory, passing by boxes of newly produced steel hoops.

A large portion of the factory area consists of steel-enclosed chambers where dozens of workers are cautiously inserting cut Luminous Stones into the hoops. This operation must be done with great care, as any mishandling could ignite the Luminous Stones, further triggering the gunpowder loaded in the hoops.

Although the explosion power of this small amount of gunpowder isn't strong, if too close, the shrapnel produced could pierce eyes and mouths. Every month, workers are maimed or killed by close-proximity Luminous Stone explosions.

These excellent working conditions in the steel enclosures aren't due to the Ting family's compassion but because this significantly reduces the chain accident rate. Moreover, skilled workers who assemble the Luminous Stones take a long time to train; losing one would lower overall production efficiency, so the Ting family certainly cares for them.

Inside, there's even a fifty-plus-year-old white-haired skilled worker, unfazed by the midlife crisis, who truly holds 'irreplaceability.'

Though, out of the dozens of workers onsite, only one lived to fifty.

Meanwhile, the other side's workers use lathes to press and assemble the hoops, adding lock holes. At this stage, explosions might still occasionally happen, but with much lower risk, and the technical content isn't high, so the workers are young people.

Seeing this, the true nature of the 'precision machinery' becomes apparent—

Grace Locks.

Which 99% of Xuanzhu County slaves are now required to wear. If they fail to check in with the Light Energy Replenisher daily, the Grace Lock will trigger an 'escape judgment' and explode, severing the slave's neck and limbs.

It is indeed a revolutionary smart lock.

The Grace Lock needs replacing every two to three years, and there are tens of thousands of slaves in Xuanzhu County alone, not to mention the hundreds of thousands in the vast Dongyang District plantations. Yet there are only two or three factories producing Grace Locks, almost unable to meet demand.

Due to the high steel processing requirements of the Grace Lock, and the fatality-prone manufacturing process, only a few technology-advanced steel processing associations can afford to make them, among which 'Zhen Ting Grace' is the largest Grace Lock manufacturer.

Actually, the Ting family wasn't the association that invented the Grace Lock. Still, when the inventor discussed collaboration with the Ting family, they poached the core personnel by offering a high price, obtained the craft secrets of the Grace Lock, and ousted the inventors out of this lucrative market.

Later, they even poached the inventors, improved several generations of Grace Locks, turning them into the fashionable item that every slave now owns.

Ting Guigu reached the director's office and saw Lai Cai, dressed in worker's clothes and covered in grime, his eyes immediately brightened: "Not bad, you look quite the part now; have you familiarized yourself with most of the factory operations?"

"Familiarized! No problem at all!" Lai Cai nodded and said, "But Uncle Gui, why do I have to come here when I'm already at the Ting home too..."

"Silly child." Lv Zhong shook his head, sat down, and said, "No matter how well you do in the Ting Family, at most you'll be a personal servant to a young master. If you're lucky and the young master prospers, you might work your way up to a manager's position, but those positions are scarce. How likely is it that you'll get one? If you're unlucky, then that's all you'll amount to for life."

"But if you seize this opportunity and strive to stay at the factory, the Patriarch might just promote you to a supervisor, and when I get old, even if you don't become the factory director, you can earn a good amount here, marry a wife, and have children. It's not a problem!"

Luminous Stone suddenly understood, "Uncle Gui, you're really good to me. I want to learn from you, work hard, and earn the main family's recognition. Maybe someday the main family will let me marry in too..."

"Don't!"

Luminous Stone was taken aback and looked at Lv Zhong in confusion. Knowing he had misspoken, Lv Zhong quickly added, "Dreaming about marrying a Ting Family girl? Look at your Uncle Gui here, after serving the Ting Family for three generations, having labored hard, that's how I got to today's position."

"Do you think you can surpass what our three generations' efforts have accumulated with just a few decades of struggle? You're aiming too high!"

"Yes, Uncle Gui is right." Luminous Stone chuckled, "But there's a saying in the Youth Daily, that if a person doesn't have dreams, what's the difference between them and salted fish?"

"You actually read the newspaper?" Lv Zhong spat, then sighed, "Stop dreaming. In a few years, Uncle Gui will find a marriage for you, ensuring your mother can hold a grandson soon."

"Thank you, Uncle Gui!"

Looking at Luminous Stone, Lv Zhong's face showed a satisfied expression.

That was his son.

Even though Lv Zhong had married a Ting Family girl, his wife looked down on him, rarely allowing him near her, and for some unknown reason, despite being married for years, they had no children.

While it wasn't a matter of concern when he was young, as Lv Zhong got older, his desire for offspring grew stronger. By middle age, he found himself with nothing—his wife slept in a separate room, he had money but nowhere to spend it, the position was given by the Patriarch, and even his name wasn't truly his own.

Still, he couldn't take a concubine or anything of the sort. From a young age, he learned the principle of master's respect and servant's inferiority; since he married into the Ting Family, if he dared to openly wrong his wife, only a peanut would await him.

So he had to be discreet.

He wanted his son born in a place he could care for, so he became involved with one of the Ting Family maids.

Maidservants having children in large families was too common. As long as the maid didn't foolishly insist on pointing out the child's parentage, usually, they were allowed to give birth.

The child of a servant was naturally a servant, trained from a young age as a customized servant, as long as they weren't flawed, large families still quite liked them.

Although Lv Zhong's son was born as a Ting Family servant, he didn't mind—his own upbringing as a servant was pretty good, with decent food and clothes!

As Luminous Stone grew older, Lv Zhong started preparing him to take over.

Previously, he hadn't found a suitable way, but this time, when the Linhai Army required the temporary 'takeover' of many Silver Blood properties, it provided him with an opportunity.

According to the requirement, cadres like Lv Zhong had to give up their positions and withdraw from factory management.

But as they say, where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure. Not long ago, the old Patriarch summoned Lv Zhong and was instructed to 'pick someone from the family servants to enter the factory, recommending them to the Linhai Army as an assistant.'

Lv Zhong immediately realized this was a perfect opportunity for Luminous Stone to take over.

Though the Linhai Army might want to take over the factory, what do soldiers know about iron production processes?

They would certainly need to select fortunate workers from within the workforce to help manage the factory.

Therefore, as long as the one assisting in management was also a loyal servant of the council, the era of the Silver Blood Association wouldn't disappear.

So Lv Zhong quickly brought Luminous Stone out from the Ting Family, let him work at the factory for a week, familiarized him with machine operations and worker management, paving the way for him.

Now they were just waiting for the Linhai Army to come take over the factory.

However, the new Patriarch Ting Wanjian was at odds with Silver Blood Association's president Jing Zhengwei, and the Linhai Army likely targeted the Ting Family, so Lv Zhong wasn't worried.

Tat-tat.

A worker suddenly rushed upstairs, panting and said, "Director, outside, outside there's a bunch of soldiers!"

They were here!

Lv Zhong glanced at Luminous Stone and quietly asked, "Remember what to say later?"

"I remember, Uncle Gui. I'll definitely do well!" Luminous Stone nodded emphatically.

"Good!"

Lv Zhong stood up, full of ambition, and led Luminous Stone out.

His son would also have a bright future.