Chapter 28: Alternative Market Analysis

The pavilion, once the nest of her rebirth, now felt like a tomb. The air, usually heavy with the sweet scent of bamboo and damp earth, now reeked of failure. Xiao Yue stopped in the center of the clearing, the exact place where her power had blossomed, a place that now seemed like a cruel joke. In her hand, the crumpled scroll of the denied request felt like a piece of dead skin.

Logic had failed. Efficiency had been defeated. All the pain, all the superhuman effort, all of Kenji's genius... had shattered against the simplest, most brutal wall of all: she was not the favored daughter. The system wasn't broken; it was a weapon, and it had just shot her straight through the heart.

Her calm, the armor forged from discipline, finally broke. A gut-wrenching sob, a sound of pure rage and helpless frustration, escaped her lips. With a scream that held all her years of accumulated humiliation, she threw the scroll to the ground and slammed her bare fist into a training post.

CRACK.

The sharp sound of splintering wood echoed in the silence, but the acute pain that shot up her arm was an echo of her own heart breaking against the unmovable wall of hierarchy. Her talent was undeniable, but the market was rigged. And for the first time since their strange alliance began, Xiao Yue had no idea what the next step of the plan was. For the first time, she believed there simply wasn't one.

She collapsed onto the damp grass, hugging her knees, the torrent of power inside her now a chaotic and aimless tide. The heat radiating from her skin was no longer a sign of strength, but the feverish burn of impotence.

She didn't know how much time passed before a shadow fell over her. She didn't have to look up to know who it was. The absence of the smell of sweat or perfume, the almost absolute silence of his presence... it could only be him.

"Situation report," Kenji's voice was as flat and devoid of emotion as if he were asking for the time.

"To hell with your reports!" she snapped, not lifting her face from her knees. "Don't you see? It's over! There's no plan that can work! There's no system to optimize! Your logic, your analysis, your stupid diagrams mean nothing here! This isn't a corporation, Kenji, it's a family! And in this family, I'm the defective product!"

He didn't answer. He simply stood there, his silence a heavier presence than any words. Finally, she looked up, her golden eyes, fired by tears and fury, ready to launch another volley of frustration. But she stopped. Kenji's expression was not one of pity or disappointment. It was one of intense, almost predatory, concentration. He wasn't looking at a defeated partner. He was looking at a fascinating new data set.

"Your assessment is incorrect," he finally said. "The system has not failed. Our market penetration strategy has failed. We attempted a resource acquisition through official channels and were blocked by a hostile monopoly (Zian) controlling the board of directors (approval protocols). It's a setback, not a liquidation."

His calmness, the way his brain processed her personal catastrophe as a simple business problem, was what disarmed her. Her fury met a wall of pure logic and dissipated; all that remained was a cold, bitter shame for her outburst.

"A setback?" she murmured, her voice now broken, not with anger, but with exhaustion. "Zian humiliated me. He made it clear that he will never, ever give me access to anything."

"Correct. That is conclusive data," Kenji replied, crouching to her level. With a fingertip, he drew a simple flowchart in the damp earth. A box (OUR OBJECTIVE: PILL) with an arrow leading to another box (OFFICIAL CHANNEL). He crossed out the arrow with two firm lines. "This route is closed," he declared. "So, we open a new one."

He drew a second arrow emerging from the objective and pointing to an empty space.

"An alternative market. Unregulated. One where merit isn't measured by lineage, but by the only currency that truly matters: capital."

Xiao Yue stared at him, incredulous. "The black market? You want me to deal with criminals?"

"I want us to solve a supply chain problem," he corrected. "If the corporation refuses to sell us its shares, we buy them from a third party in an alley. The end result is the same: acquisition of the asset. Only the method of procurement changes. The risk of inaction is a 100% chance of stagnation. The risk of exploring this new channel, if managed with due diligence, is considerably lower. It is the only logical decision."

They fell silent. Desperation was a potent acid, capable of dissolving the most deep-seated principles. Xiao Yue thought of Zian's cruel smile and the feeling of powerlessness that had choked her her entire life. Kenji wasn't offering her an honorable solution. He was offering her the only solution.

With a new, cold determination sharpening inside her, she stood up. There was a pause, a moment when the air in the pavilion seemed to hold its breath, and then she left. Kenji waited. A short time later, Xiao Yue returned. In her hands, she carried a heavy silk pouch. She stopped in front of him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice laden with genuine regret. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's not your fault. It's..." She bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence. She held out the pouch. Her fingers trembled slightly as they brushed against his. "Take this. It's my personal savings, the gifts my mother left me. I don't know its value, but I hope it's enough." She looked him in the eyes, pleading. "Here is your risk capital, consultant. Go to that alternative market and work your magic. Get me that pill. Please."

Kenji took the pouch. It was heavy. A tangible asset. But for the first time, he felt something more than the weight of metal: he felt the weight of his partner's absolute trust. The budget for the project's new phase had just been approved with the purest form of capital that existed.

"Investment received," he said with a single, brief nod. "Don't worry. I will begin the market analysis immediately."

Kenji couldn't just walk out of the sect. His new title of "Personal Assistant to Management" was both a shield and a leash; his absence would be noted. That's why his first stop wasn't the city gate, but the austere, silent chambers of Matriarch Feng.

He found her reviewing ledgers. She didn't even look up when he entered.

"The Young Lady's request was denied," Feng said. It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact. Her information network, as Kenji had already learned, was flawless.

"Affirmative," Kenji replied. "The official acquisition channel has proven to be a closed system, compromised by nepotism. A strategic reassessment is required."

Feng looked up. "And what is your new strategy, Analyst?"

Kenji placed Xiao Yue's pouch of gold on the polished desk. "Our venture's primary asset has decided to make a capital injection to finance a new resource acquisition route," he explained. "We will be exploring external suppliers in unregulated markets."

Feng glanced at the pouch, and an almost imperceptible smile, as thin as a razor's edge, curved her lips. This boy was an endless source of surprises. "So the Young Lady is willing to personally finance this... venture of yours," she said, savoring the words. "A laudable gesture. And you expect that to be enough?"

Kenji looked at her steadily. This was the moment of truth. "The initial funds cover the research phase and a potential small-scale acquisition. However, to accelerate the timeline and secure a high-quality asset, an additional investment from the chair of the board would be... strategically optimal. The question is," he concluded, in a perfectly monotone voice, "will the Matriarch also be financially supporting this venture?"

The silence thickened. Feng studied him for a long moment, her hawkish eyes seeming to pierce his very soul. Then, to Kenji's surprise, she let out a dry laugh, a sound that seemed to crack the solemn air of the room.

"Venture! Board of directors!" she shook her head, amused. "You are a fascinating anomaly, Kenji Tanaka."

She rummaged in a drawer of her desk and tossed another pouch onto the table, much heavier than Xiao Yue's. The clink of gold was resounding and final.

"I don't just support this venture, boy. I am the majority shareholder," she declared, her voice turning icy. "The Young Lady is the face and the future, and you are the brains. But I am the power pulling the strings from the shadows. Don't forget it. Now, take your money and get out. You have three days. Officially, you are auditing herb prices in the city."

She tossed him a jade token bearing the seal of her office.

"And Kenji," she called out as he turned to leave, "don't get caught. If your 'acquisition operation' goes wrong, I've never heard of you. You're just a servant with delusions of grandeur."

"Understood," Kenji replied, taking the token and the two pouches of gold. "Risk accepted and mitigated."