During my escape from famine, I survived by eavesdropping on the whispers of food.

Inside the private room of the inn.

The wealthy men who had opposed Qin Shuangshuang becoming the president of the association a few days ago were now carefully considering their options.

Master Chen said to Master Wang, "How's the matter I asked you to handle going? I told you to find some people everywhere and get this done. Otherwise, if that Chairman Jin really becomes the president of the Chamber of Commerce, do you think we'll still have food to eat?"

Liu Yuanwai said to Chen Yuanwai, "You can't say that. Our Wang Yuanwai, after all, has his own ideas. He has already taken a small portion of his family fortune to find someone in the capital."

But they can barely manage their own families right now, and they won't agree to trouble them again.

"That's right, that's right. I think those people are unreliable. Let's do it ourselves. Everyone should bring out whatever food they have at home for Qin Shuangshuang. We must make sure she wins this competition."

However, Master Chen shook his head, frowned, and sighed deeply, saying, "Your ideas are all wrong. You must know that they said in front of the adults that they absolutely could not use the things they bought themselves to treat the people, because they believed that if they did that..."

So, it would be one thing to simply throw out some money, shout around, and buy some grain to win the bet. What they're testing is ability. The head of the chamber of commerce needs more than just money and responsibility; more importantly, they need genuine strength and the ability to respond to any problems that arise.

Everyone nodded in agreement with what Master Chen said.

Master Yu then said to Master Chen, "Brother Chen, in your opinion, how should we help Qin Shuangshuang this time?"

After thinking it over carefully, we decided that we should go and see what Qin Shuangshuang needed, and then provide it to her.

Master Wang then said to Master Chen, "This is already a bit embarrassing. If you ask me, you and Master Yu should go together. After you get there, you can come back and tell us what she wants. That way it will be much faster. What do you think?"

If all of us went, it would be too conspicuous. The young lady might look down on us, these senior members. It would be better if we went to offer some guidance; she could consider it a small act of kindness from us while we're still in the chamber of commerce.

We can't really let the president of a chamber of commerce from another region take over the position of president of our local chamber of commerce.

Master Chen thought what he said made a lot of sense, so he agreed with the idea and led Master Yu to the gate of the house.

However, they were looking at Qin Shuangshuang and observing the carriages coming and going. They were business people who had dealings with people in the capital.

The current president has gone to the capital to seek help and asked for something. Although it is unknown what that thing is, it is estimated that the other party is already confident of victory.

Both wealthy men shook their heads. Mr. Chen sighed and said to Mr. Yu, "Look how fast they've moved. They've already recruited soldiers and brought in all that grain from the capital. I wonder what's inside."

Qin Shuangshuang looked at the two men in front of her and asked them curiously, "Master Chen and Master Yu, what brings you here? I thought you weren't coming."

At this moment, Master Chen chuckled and said to her, "We were wrong the other day. We shouldn't have made things so awkward with you. Now we've come to apologize. We hope you won't be angry, young lady. We old men are ignorant and don't know how to deal with young people like you."

Qin Shuangshuang thought to herself, "They came to apologize for no reason. It seems they must have something to ask me."

Then, Qin Shuangshuang pretended to be indifferent and said to him, "It's good that you had those concerns back then. After all, if it were me or you, I would have had the same concerns, so I can understand you."

Seeing that Qin Shuangshuang understood him so well, Chen Yuanwai quickly pressed his advantage, saying, "In that case, let's go inside and talk. We have some questions for you."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shuangshuang wondered why they were being asked to come in with the two of them.

What questions do they have to ask themselves?

Then, Qin Shuangshuang gestured for them to go in, and the two of them followed him inside.

Upon entering the reception room, Qin Shuangshuang had some boiled water made from snow water prepared and said to them, "Since there is no tea available, this is the only way I can offer you tea. Please don't take it to heart."

The two of them simply smiled faintly.

Master Chen said to Qin Shuangshuang, "We said some unpleasant things the other day, and we hope you won't take them to heart. We've come to ask you if there's anything we can help you with right now. Just let us know."

"Whatever you need, we'll help you as much as we can. Frankly, if the position of Chamber of Commerce president ends up in our own hands, we can easily divide it among ourselves. But if it falls into someone else's hands, things might be different. So, in my opinion, we should stick together."

Master Yu, in perfect agreement, said to Qin Shuangshuang, "Master Chen is absolutely right. Think about it carefully. If the position of chairman falls into the hands of someone else, it will be nothing short of a threat to us."

It's much better if it's in our own hands than in someone else's.

Qin Shuangshuang finally understood that all they cared about was winning the bet this time.

Qin Shuangshuang then deliberately asked tentatively, "I didn't have much courage to begin with. Back then, President Na insisted on avoiding me, so I had no choice but to put up with it. We couldn't let our chamber of commerce lose face, could we?"

But now that we're facing this tough challenge, I have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it. Don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to win, even if it means borrowing money everywhere to buy food.

The two wealthy men exchanged glances, seemingly deep in thought. Mr. Chen, unable to contain himself any longer, turned to Qin Shuangshuang and said, "I understand your concerns. You want money, right? We'll go and give it to you in a moment."

Master Yu quickly added, "If you need anything else, just let us know. The Chamber of Commerce is very supportive of you."

Qin Shuangshuang then thought that what she lacked right now was konjac.

Qin Shuangshuang then said to him, "If you really want that, why don't you go up the mountain and find some people to dig up some konjac for me, or help me collect as much as you can from all over the place?"

At this moment, both wealthy men were stunned.

"What do you need that for? We have patches of it in the countryside, growing wildly even in the dead of winter."

"Those things that are seen as a thorn in someone's side, even if you want them, it's useless."

However, she quickly explained to them, "That thing isn't some kind of witchcraft or poison; it's the key to whether we can win this bet."

Her words made the two wealthy men in front of her somewhat incredulous.