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59.25% Marvel Plane Trader / Chapter 32: The Idea of Starting a Factory, Fructose!

Chapter 32: The Idea of Starting a Factory, Fructose!

"Darling, I know what you're worried about. Don't worry, as long as you don't tell anyone, only the two of us in the world will know about the existence of this diamond," Josh explained with a smile in response to Margaret's questioning and concerns.

Of course, this gem was in the treasury of Daenerys, the dragon queen of another world, just ten minutes ago. How could anyone in this world have seen it?

The aluminum and finely cut diamond jewelry that Josh gave also showed Daenerys a steady stream of new wealth. In return, Daenerys provided him with many various types of jewelry, the most being rough diamonds.

Just like on Earth, diamonds in the Westeros continent were classified as jewelry, but they were not popular.

The reason is not that there are many of them but because, with ancient technology, polishing diamonds is a vast undertaking that cannot be mass-produced. On the other hand, using diamonds to cut metal is quite easy.

However, this pink diamond was not initially on the list of items Daenerys offered Josh in their trade. Because diamonds of this level, even with the difficulty of cutting and polishing, were still considered top-tier gems in Westeros. And the cute pink color was also greatly loved by Daenerys, who has stored it in her private collection.

It was just that when Daenerys was trading, being clueless, she said that Josh could choose one of her treasures from her collection.

Then, that was it.

She is probably hiding in some corner of her palace, drawing circles now.

"Are you sure?" Josh's words only added to Margaret's doubts.

This precious diamond is only known to the two of them.

"Did you just dig it up from outside?"

"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Look, it matches you so well!" Josh didn't explain any further. He just placed the diamond on Margaret's ample chest and gestured to show how well it matched her.

But this comparison made Josh unable to look away.

Under the slightly dim light of the bedside lamp, the pink diamond emitted a brilliant pink light, illuminating Margaret's snow-white skin in front of her chest, forming an unparalleled beauty in the world.

Margaret, who was initially uneasy about the diamond, was startled by Josh's aggressive gaze when she lifted her head. She only had time to exclaim before being pushed down by Josh onto the bed.

Diamond? Fuck the diamond!

With the overloaded work of the mattress spring, the temporarily forgotten pink diamond was slowly pushed by the spring's reactive force and eventually fell with a clatter, landing on the ground.

Fortunately, the bedroom floor was wooden. If it was tiled, this precious diamond might have died within half an hour of arriving in this world.

***

"Do you want to start a sugar factory, an aluminum alloy factory, and a handicraft company?" After a while of intense physical activity, Margaret leaned on Josh's arms and played with the diamond in her hand. "It's not difficult to start an aluminum alloy factory and a handicraft factory, but for a sugar factory, it's hard to get the raw materials now, right?"

Margaret didn't oppose Josh's idea of starting a factory. The scale of the factories Josh wanted to open was not large and wouldn't cost much money.

With a few hundred thousand dollars, they could start it up. It was like pocket change for Margaret, who received a large insurance compensation due to Tony Wendys' death.

Moreover, when it comes to her little man, she is willing to give him this amount of money and even more. Even if she loses everything, she won't feel heartbroken.

Especially with the diamond, Josh had just given her, even if it were cut into pieces and sold, its value would far exceed her current net worth.

But as she mentioned, starting an aluminum alloy and handicraft factory is easy.

Although it's wartime, aluminum, as this era's most important aviation material, is also a controlled material.

But unlike other raw materials that are restricted, the bauxite ore in the United States, the main source of aluminum, has not been affected by the war in terms of raw materials because the primary import source of bauxite in the United States at this time was Brazil. Therefore, there is no difficulty for Josh to start an aluminum alloy factory. The produced aluminum metal products will also be purchased by the military. Although the price will not be high, it is definitely not a loss.

As for the handicraft factory, according to Josh, it will mainly process some low-cost handicraft jewelry made of glass, defective diamonds, and other materials, which have little to do with the war.

But for a sugar factory, the problem is significant.

Because the sugar in this era is mainly cane sugar.

The main raw materials are sugar beets and sugarcane. Although fructose, which is cheap but harmful, has flooded in modern times, the production technology is not advanced, the yield is low in this era, and it's even more expensive than cane sugar.

Although the sugarcane and sugar beet production in the entire Americas is substantial, these crops are seasonal economic crops that require a growth cycle. Additionally, due to the Pacific War, the routes from the Asia-Pacific region are blocked, and the materials from Southeast Asia, another important sugar raw material producing area, cannot be imported.

This has led to a sugar shortage in the United States.

Raw materials can only be allocated to those large enterprises and factories. It is almost impossible for Josh to obtain enough raw materials unless he has enough connections.

However, Margaret didn't know that Josh never intended to obtain raw materials from this world but from the Game of Thrones world.

Why is Daenerys willing to buy sugar from Josh at a high price? Is it because there is no sugar in the Game of Thrones world?

Of course not!

The reason is that only refined sugar technology is missing in the Game of Thrones world.

Therefore, as long as Josh imports raw sugar from the Game of Thrones world and refines it, the sugar produced can be sold back to Daenerys or sold in this world, and it will be a huge profit!

Of course, this model is not without its drawbacks.

The downside is that it's easy to be discovered by the federal government.

After all, how could you produce so much sugar without raw materials?

The reason is simple, the fundamental purpose of Josh opening the sugar factory is not to produce cane sugar. But it's a type of sugar that hasn't appeared in this era; that is the extremely cheap high fructose corn syrup that exists in later times!

"Have you heard of fructose? If I tell you that I have a technique to refine sugar from corn starch that is sweeter and cheaper than cane sugar, what would you say?" Facing Margaret's doubts, Josh whispered.


Chapter 33: Fundraising Event

The so-called high-fructose corn syrup is actually a very common sweetener in the food processing industry that gradually replaced sucrose in the future.

This type of sugar did not appear until after the 1950s.

But its process is not complicated.

The most important things are two substances: amylase and glucose isomerase.

The former was extracted in the 1930s but was not commercialized. The latter was not discovered until the 1950s.

But Josh only needed the former because the latter mainly converts glucose in the syrup into fructose, increasing the syrup's sweetness.

Only the former plays a role in hydrolyzing starch to produce syrup.

He knew about these two things because of the unfortunate brother who asked him to drink before he transmigrated. He worked in the raw material processing industry for fast-moving products. Actually, he was a supplier of raw materials for milk tea shops.

He helped out in his spare time, so he had some understanding of this.

However, Josh is not involved in biological research, so he definitely cannot produce the enzyme necessary for the saccharification process and, therefore, cannot produce fructose syrup himself.

But it doesn't matter. Someone else can do this kind of work.

Chicago is the educational center of the Midwest, with as many as 19 standard four-year colleges and universities, including famous institutions such as the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois, as well as many research institutes.

It is not difficult to find some professionals in this field.

"Since you are confident, go ahead and do it. Just tell me how much money you need!" After Josh shared his plan, Margaret said.

"However, since you want to start a business, it's necessary to interact more with some influential people. Yesterday, Uncle John sent me an invitation to a fundraising event. I wasn't planning on going, but since you're starting a business now, let's go together! I'll introduce you to some people who will be helpful for your business."

By the way, Josh has been with Margaret for a while, but she has never taken him on such occasions.

It's not because Josh is not presentable.

In fact, after her father passed away, she rarely attended such parties.

At first, it was because someone always talked bad about Tony Wendys in her ear, and she didn't like it. She even fought with some of her old girlfriends because of it.

And when she later found out that all these bad things were true, she didn't want to attend such occasions anymore... because she was afraid of losing face.

In addition, after the entanglement with David Leibler, she didn't want to go even more, so she didn't mention it.

But if Josh wants to start a factory business, he'll need all kinds of connections. So it's very necessary to attend this reception.

So she brought it up.

"Oh? What kind of event is it?" Josh couldn't help but ask.

"It's a war bond fundraising reception hosted by the city government. Uncle John is the leader, and all the famous people in Chicago will attend!" Margaret said.

Josh was interested in this reception.

"Will it cause you any trouble?" In fact, he has never seen such a high-end reception in both his past and present lives.

"What trouble can there be? It's also a good opportunity to let those people know I'm doing well now." Margaret smiled gently.

"What do I need to be careful about?" Josh asked.

"Be handsome!"

***

Soon, the weekend arrived.

Josh and Margaret, who had carefully dressed up, arrived on time at the venue of the reception, the luxurious estate of the Leibler family.

When they arrived, there were already many guests in the estate, and the yard was filled with various luxury cars of the period. Compared to those cars, the maroon Lincoln Continental driven by Josh today was somewhat inconspicuous.

Of course, if the Cadillac V16 in the system repository were taken out, it would still be eye-catching.

But it wasn't time yet.

Although Josh had already entered Chicago's high society by getting close to Margaret, a wealthy woman, it was still not enough to ensure his safety.

After all, those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. When those Italian savages go crazy, they even dare to plan assassinations against the president.

Therefore, until he had enough self-protection ability, the car could only be treated as a personal collection.

Fortunately, the system space was time-stopped, so there was no worry about the car being poorly maintained.

After Margaret handed the invitation to the waiter at the door to be checked, the two entered the venue hall unimpeded.

"Hey, Margo, long time no see!" Upon entering the venue, Margaret was recognized by an acquaintance.

This is a beautiful and wealthy woman of similar age to Margaret.

"Long time no see, Carol!" Margaret greeted the other person warmly, and it was obvious that the two of them were familiar with each other.

Then, under Margaret's apologetic gaze, Carol pulled her aside to talk in private.

Josh couldn't participate in or interfere with such private conversations between women. He could only look around to ease his embarrassment and grab a drink from a passing waiter's tray.

Josh didn't like drinking, but that didn't mean he couldn't drink. He had tried it before, and his alcohol tolerance was average.

"What should I call you?" At that moment, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament walked up to Josh and asked.

"Josh, Josh Kane!" Josh introduced himself.

"Patrick Ches, Carol is my wife!" The man introduced himself and then pointed to Carol, who was talking to Margaret.

Josh suddenly realized why another person had come up to talk to him.

Soon, the two of them chatted with each other. Still, since they were not familiar with each other, they could not discuss overly private matters. Thus, the topic quickly turned to the current war situation. This was a normal topic that men liked to discuss, especially since it was a war bond fundraising reception. It was quite appropriate to discuss the war as a topic.

However, it was precisely because of this conversation that Josh left a deep impression on Patrick, who had originally dismissed him as an ordinary conversationalist.

Patrick was now the owner of a department store in Chicago. Still, during World War I, he had served as a logistics officer in the military, so he was not a complete outsider when it came to military matters.

In their conversation, some of Josh's judgments about the current war situation were quite fresh to him.

"Josh, it's such a pity that with your insights, you don't join the military and make a contribution!" Patrick exclaimed.

Josh rolled his eyes inwardly at this.

Join the military? This body was just a high school (ninth-grade) dropout. What could he do in the military? Go to the front lines and carry shells?

Although during World War II, due to the rapid expansion of the military, not just anyone could become an officer, and even the better military branches had high educational requirements. For example, the Air Force and Navy required at least a high school diploma.

Therefore, if Josh were to join the military now, he would only be able to serve as an ordinary infantryman.

Moreover, Josh had no intention of joining the military at all. Was he crazy enough to go and sell his life to this emotionless country?

Isn't it much more comfortable to sleep with a rich woman?

"Mr. Ches, Josh is not yet 16 years old. He is far from being of military age!" Margaret, who had just finished talking with Carol, walked over and heard Patrick's words, immediately took Josh's arm, and protested dissatisfiedly.

Hearing Margaret's words, Patrick was taken aback.

Looking at Josh again, he did seem a bit immature. However, Josh's tall stature, calm personality, and good insights had made him overlook this.

But he was only 16 years old... Patrick shook his head. He looked at Josh again and then at the mature and glamorous Margaret.

Tsk tsk...

Fortunately, the laws were not so strict in this era, and such situations were not uncommon among the upper class.

If it were the 21st century, Margaret might have been prosecuted and sent to jail...


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